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This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to three women - Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman of Yemen.

They were recognised for their "non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work".

Mrs Sirleaf is Africa's first female elected head of state, Ms Gbowee is a Liberian peace activist and Ms Karman is a leading figure in Yemen's pro-democracy movement.

"We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women achieve the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," said Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjorn Jagland in Oslo.

Reading from the prize citation, he said the committee hoped the prize would "help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent".

German Chancellor Angela Merkel - deemed by Forbes the world's most powerful woman - called the award a "wise decision".

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Nobel committee chair Thorbjorn Jagland announced the awards

But Mrs Sirleaf's main rival in polls this coming Tuesday, Winston Tubman, told the BBC she did not deserve the prize and was a "warmonger".

Arab Spring

Mrs Karman heard of her win from protest camp Change Square in the capital Sanaa, where she has been living for several months calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to stand down.

She was recognised for playing a leading part in the struggle for women's rights in Yemen's pro-democracy protests "in the most trying circumstances" and is the first Arab woman to win the prize.

As the head of Yemeni organisation Women Journalists without Chains, Mrs Karman has been jailed several times.

Mrs Karman told BBC Arabic she was dedicating it to "all the martyrs and wounded of the Arab Spring" - the wave of unrest which has swept the Middle East and North Africa in the past year - and to "all the free people who are fighting for their rights".

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Tawakul Karman, speaking from Change Square in Sanaa: "It's victory for all the dreams, all the struggles"

Mr Jagland said the oppression of women was "the most important issue" in the Arab world and that awarding the prize to Ms Karman was "giving the signal that if it [the Arab Spring] is to succeed with efforts to make democracy, it has to include women".

'Iron Lady'

Mrs Sirleaf, 72, who had been widely tipped as a winner, said the award was "for all Liberian people" and a recognition of "many years of struggle for justice".

She was elected in 2005, following the end of Liberia's bloody and ruinous 14-year civil war.

Upon coming to office, the US-educated economist and former finance minister - known as Liberia's "Iron Lady" - pledged to fight corruption and bring "motherly sensitivity and emotion to the presidency".

Mrs Sirleaf is standing in Tuesday's election, having previously said she would only hold the presidency for one term.

Her rival Mr Tubman denounced the award, saying she had "brought war here".

She had initially backed the rebels of Charles Taylor - currently on trial for war crimes in The Hague.

Although she has apologised, Liberia's Truth and Reconciliation Commission recommended that she be barred from holding public office for 30 years.

"I did more to stop the war than she did because she was for continuing the war," Mr Tubman said.

"Now that the war has stopped she wants to continue on top of the country as though she is some liberator. She is not."

He told AFP news agency the timing of the award was "provocative".

But Archbishop Desmond Tutu and U2 singer Bono welcomed Mrs Sirleaf's honouring, with Mr Tutu telling AFP: "Woo hoo. She deserves it many times over. She's brought stability to a place that was going to hell."

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Her compatriot Ms Gbowee was a leading critic of the violence during the Liberian civil war, mobilising women across ethnic and religious lines in peace activism and encouraging them to participate in elections.

In 2003 she led a march through the capital, Monrovia, demanding an end to the rape of women by soldiers.

The Nobel Committee said she had "worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war".

Ms Gbowee told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme: "I am confused. I am humbled. This is the first time in the 39 years of my life that I am out of words.

"This is a victory for women rights everywhere in the world. What could be better then three women winning the prize?

"This is the recognition that we hear you, we see you, we acknowledge you."

The women will share the $1.5m (£1m) prize money.

The BBC's world affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge says that the Nobel Peace Prize originally recognised those who had already achieved peace, but that its scope has broadened in recent years to encourage those working towards peace and acknowledge work in progress.

The Nobel committee received a record 241 nominations for this year's prize - among the individuals and groups believed to have been put forward were the European Union, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and key cyber dissidents in the Arab Spring movement.

Comments

Comment number 120.

rejoiceellen7th October 2011 - 14:10

I feel very proud to be a Liberian because of of the achievement that my fellow compatriot and my beloved President have achieve in the struggle for women rights and social justice for all women around the world I say congrat to all the award winners

Comment number 114.

timmarsha117th October 2011 - 13:54

The whole process in flawed. How can Obama win this on his own for doing nothing, yet these 3 people have to share the prize for achieving what they have with the only common theme being they are women working for womens' rights?This must be the first time the prize has been diluted so that 3 separate achievements have been honored (vs the prize being split by 3 people working for the same aim).

Comment number 103.

Billy The Bull7th October 2011 - 13:22

Nobel Peace Prize winners come and go and so often we haven't heard of many of them in the first place (if we are honest?) and then they are mostly forgotten in an amazingly short time span.Who cares about the PRIZE as such and should we not be beholden to those who achieve real change and reform lives for good?

Comment number 98.

squizzel7th October 2011 - 13:01

I think the point of the peace prize is a recognition of the selfless work of these women. Whether the Nobel prize is considered a joke or meaningless is irrelevant and one can only hope the comittee will continue to award the prize to people who truly merit it regardless of race or gender. These women deserved it for their work- it was not based on their gender. An inspiration to all.

Comment number 72.

Bridget7th October 2011 - 12:04

There women represent the stuggle that exists for women in oppressed societies, there are not many countries where the men are oppressed and it is usually the men that are doing the oppressing. I applaud these women wholeheartedly for their bravery and determination. Congratulations

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